Piers Anthony - Phaze Doubt

“Guidebot for serf Tsetse,” Nepe said through her speaker grille.

The woman stood. “Here.” She looked nervous, and her eyes were a bit puffy. She had evidently been crying.

“Follow.” Nepe rolled down the hall at a comfortable walking pace. There were many means of transport, but serfs typically walked unless the distance was far or their assignments were urgent; that was why the halls were usually filled. Normally a serf did not rate a machine guide, but if the mission was important it could happen. Anything could happen at the whim of a Citizen, of course, and that was evidently the case with those who served the new masters. It was also possible that the assignment of a guide was a reminder to a perhaps reluctant serf that the directive was to be obeyed without question.

Since Tsetse was the most docile of serfs, why was such a reminder considered to be in order? She should simply have been given the order to report to her assignment at a given hour, and left to find her own way there. All transport was free for serfs, on the presumption that they were serving the interests of their employers, and directories of routes were available at convenient locations. She could have gone alone.

The woman was evidently unhappy. Had there been a falling-out? Yet this was hardly a punitive assignment. The Adept Brown was a good woman. For many years she had had a werewolf servant whom she had treated well. She would surely treat Tsetse well.

But there was another mystery. Purple had been Brown’s prisoner, and now she was his. Why should he not only allow her to keep her residence, but assign a pleasant servant to her? Purple had never been noted for generosity to anyone.

Nepe rolled up to the airport entrance. “I’m going out?” Tsetse asked forlornly.

“Yes,” Nepe answered, as any machine would. Suddenly she had her answer: Tsetse didn’t know where she was going! That was why she needed the guide—and why she was afraid. She thought she was being punished for some infraction!

Nepe pondered briefly, and decided to take a risk. It might even lead to valuable input. She overstepped the nature of a normal guidebot and volunteered information. “To the residence of the former Brown Adept in Phaze.”

Tsetse pounced on the news with pitiful hunger. “To be his servant there?” She thought Purple had taken over the Brown Demesnes.

“To be her servant there.”

“Oh, if only it’s so!” Tsetse breathed, the tension going out of her.

Nepe was glad she had spoken. Tsetse might not be much intellectually, but she didn’t deserve unkind treatment. Purple was a hard master who evidently used her and abused her without concern for her feelings. He could have told her where she was going, but perhaps had preferred to make her suffer. This was true to his form.

Nepe led the way to a seat on the small airplane available. There were no other passengers. “Brown Demesnes,” she told the control panel, and the plane started moving. Its flight would be coordinated with others, controlled from the ground. They were merely passengers.

“But why should I be assigned to the Brown Adept?” Tsetse asked. “The Purple Adept doesn’t even like her!”

That was exactly what Nepe was wondering. But she was in no position to hold a dialogue on the subject, lest she betray her nature. She did not respond.

The flight was a short one, and soon the plane came down in a field beside the wooden castle. Brown had a Proton identity, but her Phaze identity was dominant, and her Proton self had effectively disappeared during the mergence.

The plane stopped. They got out. The plane took off without them. They were left in the field, gazing at the castle.

A wooden golem came out and approached them. “Who are you?” it asked.

“This is Tsetse, assigned here by Citizen Purple,” Nepe said. “I guided her here, and now am stranded.” Indeed, Purple had cared no more for the convenience of the machine than for that of the serf.

“Follow.” The golem turned and marched back toward the castle.

“I can not,” Nepe called, for her little wheels were useless here.

The golem turned again, strode back, bent, and heaved her up. It carried her awkwardly, but with the unyielding strength of wood. It made again for the castle, with Tsetse following.

The Brown Adept met them at the front door. “What be thy purpose here?” she inquired somewhat grimly of Tsetse.

“I am to be your servant,” Tsetse replied, surprised.

“I know naught o’ this.” She glanced at Nepe, who had been set on the floor. “What be thy transmittal orders?”

“To guide the serf Tsetse to the Brown Demesnes,” Nepe replied. They had assumed she was to be a servant; it wasn’t specified in the order.

Brown looked again at Tsetse. “Thou dost work for Purple?”

“For Tania, then for Purple,” Tsetse said. “I will do good work for you, if you give me a chance.”

Brown was still for a moment, evidently struck by the woman’s eagerness. It seemed that neither party had been told about this assignment. “What type o’ work didst thou do for them?”

“I was Tania’s receptionist, and whatever. For Purple, whatever.”

“What dost thou mean, whatever?” Brown asked sharply. Tsetse looked down, ashamed to answer.

Then Brown caught on. “Purple had thee for sexual purpose?”

“Yes, for a time.”

“And Tania too?”

“Yes,” Tsetse whispered. “When she had no man.”

“And thou hadst no choice, being a serf,” Brown said. “I understand. There will be not such coercion here.”

“I didn’t mind, really,” Tsetse said. “Tania treated me well.”

“And Purple?”

Tsetse was silent.

Brown put an arm around her. “My dear, mine authority be diminished, since the invasion. I remain here only by the sufferance o’ mine enemies, and I know not how long that will be. But thou needst have no fear o’ me during that interim.”

“Thank you, sir,” Tsetse said, trying to stifle her tears of relief.

“Nay, not sir. I be an Adept, a Citizen not, and in any event my power now be scant. Come, we shall get to know each other. But first needs must we clothe thee; this be not Proton, and thy fair form will be chilled in the drafts.”

“But what of me?” Nepe asked. She did not want to get stranded here; she had other business to do.

Brown glanced at her thoughtfully. “Go to my storage chamber until thy service be needed again.”

Nepe headed into the castle and down the hall, making her way to the chamber where the wooden golems stayed when not animated. The matter remained curious. She still had no hint why Purple, who cared little for the welfare of any other person, had sent a pleasant woman like Tsetse to work with Brown. Why did he allow Brown to have even the semblance of freedom? It was obvious that neither woman knew the answer, and Nepe didn’t either. She hoped Mach could make some sense of it. But she didn’t dare send a message from here; Purple was surely monitoring whatever happened at this castle.

She moved back to the darkest recess of the storage chamber. Then she changed slowly back to human form. There was no activity. The two women were probably comparing life histories. Nepe was sure it was lonely here, and the company of another woman would be a blessing to Brown. But that only heightened the mystery: Purple could have sent anyone to watch Brown: a harridan or a cruel man or a machine. He had sent possibly the most compatible person available. That was completely unlike him. Why hadn’t he simply had her locked in a cell?

When her change was complete, she shifted to Flach. He became a flea and jumped through a crack in the wall, working his way outside. When he got there, he became a small snake and slithered through the grass away from the castle. Only when he was well clear did he conjure himself directly to Hardom, where he returned the body to Nepe.